Category Archives: Philanthropy

We’re having a contest at DU to see who can raise the most money in our “Duck Fever” fundraising drive. (See the widget in the sidebar.) Technically, since fundraising is actually my job, I really think I should be disqualified from any of the prizes. However, I really should try to make a good showing.

You don’t have to give much, $5 makes a difference and I have until June 30th. So if you like something I write (or if you hate something I write, but love ducks anyway), please consider dropping $5 or more to support Ducks Unlimited.

I spend too much time on the Internet, but I think I have to. Never before has it been truer that just a few can cause a sea change. The whole world is accessible and listening and I don’t want to miss it. If you happen to catch the ears (or eyes) of a few social media mavens, you can start a wildfire on the wires that blazes through real life.

It's a Cook Book!

I understand intimately what the lack of outdoor exploration is doing to our children and our future. All the same, I do want to shake a finger at those who are turning off and dropping out of Web 2.0. Perhaps in your heart of hearts you’re worried that Hulu.com really is run by aliens intent on rotting our brains because that’s how you Serve Man. Rod Serling, may he rest in peace, must have known better than anyone that it is far easier to imagine the potential pitfalls of technologic tragedy than the immense good it can do. I’m terrified that we’re missing out on this gigantic good because I quite frankly am not impressed with the good that’s being done now.

A WHAT Up?

I went to a Tweetup (a group of geographically connected people who use Twitter for marketing and communication) a few nights ago and was stunned that no one in this group of young and inspired social marketers had a clue who Ducks Unlimited was. (Is it a marketing firm? A publishing house?) It wasn’t like I was in Los Angeles. I’m in Sacramento, the cradle of western water policy and wetlands conservation. And I couldn’t make the excuse that they were uninitiated in the world of giving. This generation, believe it or not, embraces giving. What they did know about, however, was Twestival, a massive and successful Internet driven philanthropy working to raise funding for clean water in Africa.

I hate that this future generation of philanthropists is throwing their money at projects overseas before working to protect and restore the water they are consuming and sullying themselves. I hate that they know what Twestival is, but have no idea who is doing the work to conserve the wetlands and their access to clean water in their own backyard. And it’s our fault!

What about Our Lost Paradise?

Hen Mallard in Flooded Rice

Where all you all?

Where are the leaders who should be building a young inspired internet tribe of water warriors in North America?

I’m listening and I’m not hearing you. If you don’t step up now it will be over soon. The Internet is the world whether it’s a Nigerian scam or a child in Africa needing clean water. Someone somewhere is building a better mousetrap and you don’t have to be next door to discover it. People in Africa deserve clean water, I’ll throw in 20% of my giving to help, but the other 80% I’m scraping up for philanthropy is going in my backyard.

If the plane is going down, you have got to put your own mask on before you reach to help the person next you. But someone better have the fortitude to not only put on their mask, but make it to the cockpit. As Seth Godin would say, “We need you to lead us.” And I need you to lead me to water. In fact, it would be easier if we did it together. Come on, let’s go!